
j0rz^:i^-^ 



AN ADDRESS 



THE SENIOR CLASS 



DICKINSON COLLEGE, ^ 



CARLISLE, PENNSYLVANIA, 



■■■^ JULY 8th, 1840. 



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BACCALAUREATE ADDRESS, 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



SENIOR CLASS, 
DICKINSON COLLEGE, 

CARLISLE, PENNSYLVANIA, 

JUIiV Stli, 1840. 

BY WILLIAM H. ALLEN, A. M. 

PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY AND NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 



\-^ U. S. A. ■ 



^ PHILADELPHIA: 
T. K. & P. G. COLLINS, PRINTERS, 

No. 1 LODGE ALLEY. 



1840. 



1 2ro 



^ 



Dickinson College, 

July 9th, 1840. 
Dear Sir: 

Our class has appointed us a Committee to express to you our great 
gratification in listening to your elegant, instructive and affectionate address, 
delivered to us last evening, and to ask of you a copy for publication. 
With the highest regard, we are, dear sir. 
Yours, 

J. N. TEMPLE, 
A. HERR SMITH, 
J. F. BIRD. 
Prof. Wm. H. Allen. 



Dickinson College, 

July lOth, 1840. 
Gentlemen: 

Your letter of yesterday has been received, and I beg you to accept 
my thanks for the very friendly manner in which you have noticed the ad- 
dress. 

There are several reasons for which I should prefer to withhold this address 
from publication ; but I do not feel at liberty to decline the request of the class 
whose respect and kindness to me have been as gratifying as they have been 
•constant. 

With sincere regard and esteem, 

I am very truly your friend, 

WM. H. ALLEN. 
Messrs. J. N. Temple, 
A. Herr Smith, 
J. F. Bird. 



ADDRESS. 



Gentlemen of the Senior Class: 

The present is an interesting period in your lives. You are 
about to exchange the exercises and discipUne of the gymnasium 
for the actual conflicts of the arena. You are to lay aside the 
foils and grasp the naked steel. Hitherto you have been di- 
rected, assisted, governed youth. Now you are to go forth 
alone, self-relying, self-ruling men. The circle of your pleasures 
and pains is to be enlarged, and the number of your duties mul- 
tiplied; the weight of your responsibilities is to be increased, 
and the range of your influence indefinitely extended. Your 
country calls you; society opens her bosom to welcome and to 
cherish you; the future half withdraws her misty curtain from 
before your eyes and with a thousand blandishments beckons 
you forward. You stand impatient to hear the signal trumpet, 
eager to rush forth and mingle "in the world's broad field of 
battle" and resolved to be "heroes in the strife.'^ Perchance, 
even, in the ardor of youthful aspirations, intent on the scenes 
that loom up in your view like a gorgeous mirage, you forget 
that 

"Your hearts though stout and brave, 
Still like muffled drums are beating 
Funeral marches to the grave." 

On this occasion, not less important than interesting, it has 
fallen to my lot to address you; and I rejoice that in all my in- 
tercourse with the class no incident has occurred to chill the 
cordiality with which I can press the hand of every individual 
in it, and greet him as my friend. I apply myself, therefore, to 
this duty with no ordinary feelings of satisfaction ; and if any 



cause exist to diminish my pleasure in addressing you with 
whom I have been so long and so happily associated as an in- 
structor, it is the certainty that the present lesson is to be the last. 

Nothing is more natural than for each one of you to ask him- 
self at this time, what did I come here for ? What have I been 
doing these four years ? What kind of instruction have I re- 
ceived ? What benefit have I derived from my labors ? 

I believe the students who enter this college, and probably 
the same is true in other institutions, may be divided into three 
classes. The first come because their parents send them; 
the second, because they think it respectable to graduate ; and 
the third, because they wish to prepare themselves in the best 
manner to become useful men. The first class, through inatten- 
tion or incompetency, usually run off the track before the course 
is finished, and are left as wrecks and rubbish by the wayside. 
The second class, who desire a diploma more than an education^ 
soon discover that it is not to be had here so easily as they ex- 
pected, and retreat to some institution where they hope to secure 
their object with less expense of time and attainments. Just as 
if a square piece of parchment with a formula of Latin words 
on it, and a sigillum collegii dangling on a blue ribbon, were a 
passport to respectability and honor! "Show us not your di- 
plomas,'^ said a distinguished gentleman of the South, "show us 
what you can do." In fact a diploma bestowed unworthily is 
nothing more nor less than a certificate signed, sealed and de- 
livered, saying, "know all men by these presents that this person 
is a blockhead." For while the bearer exhibits his ignorance 
and incapacity to all the world, the parchment shows he has 
enjoyed the means of improvement; and men will not fail to set 
him down a dunce, who remains ignorant in the midst of facili- 
ties to become learned. The third class hold on their way with 
strong hands and hearts, though not seldom, it may be, with 
aching heads, to the end of their course, and with the sign re- 
ceive also the thing signified. To such, a diploma is not only 
a letter of introduction, but of recommendation. It does not 
merely testify to so many years spent within classic walls, but to 
real, substantial attainments made there. 

But you, young gentlemen, have not, in your college voyage, 
drifted upon the rocks, nor foundered in the storm, nor fled from 



the battle. I take it for granted, therefore, that you came here 
to acquire an education — an education suited to the exigencies 
of the times in which you Hve, and of the country which de- 
mands your services. Had you desired but to procure a diploma 
with the least possible amount of stud}^, we could have assured 
you at the outset that yoU had missed your way. There is a 
spirit abroad in the land with which we have no sympathy ; that 
leveling spirit which has such a mortal aversion to looking up- 
ward. So great is its horror at a visual angle above a horizontal 
line that it threatens to prostrate whatever excels mediocrity or 
overtops insignificance. In some states strong efforts have been 
made, and are still making, to throw open Avhat have been here- 
tofore called the learned professions to all ^vho may choose to 
enter them. The hackney coachman exchanges his Avhip for a 
ferule, and lo, "the schoolmaster is abroad.^^ The tinker of your 
brass kettle yesterday, is ready to splinter up your fractured 
bones to-day. The cobbler of to-day, rolls up his lapstone in his 
leather apron, and to-morrow struts into court with his Black- 
stone in a green bag. Am I then displeased that men in the 
humbler walks of life are permitted to rise to the dignity of a 
profession? Certainly not. Far be it from me to throw an ob- 
stacle in the way of merit struggling upward. I honor the man, 
who, conscious of a power withm him, combats with adverse 
circumstances, and in defiance of fortune emerges from obscurity. 
But I do object to men entering higher employments without 
rising at all; that is, without study and preparation. I do object 
to men with no merit but vulgarity, no education but self-conceit, 
no qualification but impudence, forcing themselves into profes- 
sions to degrade their dignity and render them contemptible. 

I think you will bear me witness, yoimg gentlemen, that the 
faculty of this college has endeavored to resist this tendency of 
our times, and to maintain a high standard of education. We 
know our present interests suffer by this course, but we hope for 
our reward in future. We look to the character you will sustain 
and the influence you will exert, to demonstrate to our country- 
men the wisdom of our views. To you would we point with 
the pride of a Cornelia and say, " These are our jewels." 

You have accomplished a course of study equal in extent to 
that pursued in the most respectable colleges in the United 



States. And it is but just to you to say, that while we have 
endeavored to do our duty according to our ability, you have 
seconded our efforts faithfully and with commendable zeal. 
To-morrow you will receive the seals that shall testify to your 
fidelity. But beware of expecting too much from them. They 
certify that you are competent to act in an honorable sphere ; to 
fill certain stations, and engage in certain employments respect- 
able in themselves and useful to society. It depends upon your- 
selves to " quit you like men," and to show by the faithful dis- 
charge of your duties that you are worthy of any station to 
which you may be called. And believe me, these duties will 
require of you labors no less arduous, and resolution no less de- 
termined, than were required in the work of preparation. Quite 
certain it is, that when you mingle in the exciting scenes of life 
and find you have occasion for all the mental discipline you 
have acquired here, and for all the knowledge you have gained, 
or may gain hereafter, in order to sustain yourselves honorably 
and act well your parts, you will never lament the severity of 
the tasks by which your powers were developed and strength- 
ened. The soldier in the shock of battle, when life and victory 
depend not less on skill to parry and to thrust than on native 
strength of muscle, feels no sorrow that he has trained his arm 
and his eye in the toilsome exercises of the encampment. 

In maintaining a high course of study in this college we have 
beheved ourselves performing a duty not only to you but to our 
country. In monarchical governments the proper education of 
the heir apparent — an education of that elevated cmd compre- 
hensive character which would qualify him to govern well, has 
always been a subject of the deepest concern to every wise king 
and prudent subject. But in our country every citizen is a 
sovereign ; every youth, a prince. The instruction of American 
youth, therefore, should be adapted to the wants of princes. 
They should learn not only their powers, but their responsibili- 
ties ; not only their dignity, but their duties ; and, above all, their 
accountability to a more exalted sovereign, "by whom kings 
reign and princes execute judgment." 

It is surprising, after all that has been written of late on the 
subject of education, that its true object should be so frequently 
mistaken. Too many youth are educated only to make their 



way in the world; they ought to be educated to do good in the 
world. The cultivation of the intellect is too often regarded as 
an end; it ought to be regarded as a means to facilitate moral 
cultivation. We should study things to prepare us to study 
men; men, to know ourselves. An acquaintance with languages 
and mathematics is not chiefly valuable, because it enables us to 
read a few foreign and ancient authors, or to trace the steps of 
a tedious analysis ; but because it assists us to translate the won- 
derful volume, mind; and to solve the profoimd problem, man, 
A knowledge of the physical sciences possesses a nobler utility, 
that to minister to the bodily comforts of mankind, to relieve 
their toils and multiply their luxuries. Its highest benefit is to 
prepare the mind by the contemplation of the order and har- 
mony of nature, to study and love those moral harmonies in 
which virtue consists. 

In a word, the education of the youthful American should be 
designed not merely to make him a lawyer, a physician, a poli- 
tician, or a divine ; but to make him a man. It should not be 
contracted, but liberal ; not partial, but general. It should place 
him in the clear air of the mountain top, where his eyes can 
survey a vast circumference and take in all the objects within it; 
not in a nook on the hill side where he can look in but one di- 
rection, and where he gazes on a single landscape till he forgets 
there is light and beauty any where else. Narrow views result 
in dangerous mistakes. A little truth, viewed apart from its 
relations to other truths, becomes magnified by an illusion of 
mental optics till it fills the whole field of vision. 

How far we have been successful in assisting you to acquire 
the elements of such an education as this, it is not for us to say. 
Time must determine whether the foundation laid is able to sus- 
tain an elevated and massive superstructure. Remember also 
you are to finish the edifice yourselves, and that the foundation, 
however deep and firm, will avail you little unless you continue 
to build upon it. Keep at work, therefore, lest, by neglect, it 
become an unsightly heap, and "all that behold it begin to mock 
you, saying, this man began to build and was not able to finish." 

In our personal intercourse with you, young gentlemen, we 
have placed ourselves in more close and confidential proximity 
to you than college etiquette has been usually thought to justify. 



10 

We have done this partly for our own pleasure and your com- 
fort; and partly to cherish a healthy moral influence over you. 
It is common to place too much reliance on statutes and text- 
books, and too little on men. But an instructor should be the 
last person to degrade himself into a mere task-master, whose 
only business is to assign his class the customary number of 
pages, and at the appointed hour apply "the screws" to ascer- 
tain whether they have been studying or playing at whist. His 
vocation is more noble; his duties, more pleasing as well as 
more arduous. He should not only point the direction, but lead 
the way. Unencumbered with the appalling ceremony of the 
reciting room, he should draw near to his pupils and converse 
with them as a man with his friends. I believe that more bene- 
fit may be derived from one hour of judicious and well-directed 
conversation on subjects that admit of it, (and few do not,) than 
from half a dozen punctilious recitations or frigid lectures. In 
this way the attention is roused, the reasoning faculties are ex- 
cited to action, invention is waked up, the feelings become inte- 
rested, a strong impression is made, and, what is still better, a 
sympathy springs up between teacher and students which en- 
ables him to seek out the avenues to their minds and hearts, and 
to mould their ideas and sentiments to the image and likeness of 
his own. Herein was the secret of the influence of Socrates 
over his disciples. They loved the man, because they were as- 
sured he loved them ; they drank in his instructions with avidity, 
because they fell from the lips of their friend; they honored his 
precepts, because, while illuminated with the wisdom of a sage, 
they were uttered with the sympathies of a father. Does any 
man fear unpleasant consequences from such intercourse with 
those to whom he stands m loco parentis? The fear is ground- 
less if he has real dignity of character, and no other should ever 
assume the office of an instructor. Familiarity increases our re- 
spect for a worthy person, and diminishes it but for the unwor- 
thy. That dignity is assumed Avhich suffers itself to be viewed 
only a great way off". True dignity becomes more obvious the 
nearer we approach it. A perfect picture will bear close inspec- 
tion; it is the rough and unfinished that requires the distance 
and illusion of the diorama. 

It is a remark of general application, and admitting but few 



u 

exceptions, that the habits which a student forms in college will 
cling to him through life. Indeed it is difficult to conceive how 
it could be otherwise. A college has been justly called the 
world in miniature. The same motives that influence an indi- 
vidual in the little world, will bear upon him and produce similar 
results in the great. Has he studied but to shine in the reciting 
room here ? He will be very apt to seek more for eclat than use- 
fulness there. Has he made a spasmodic effort to outstrip a 
rival, and, wanting steadiness and weight, like a ship without 
ballast, capsized in the waves? Mark if he do not spread more 
canvas than he can carry in the life-voyage. Has he always 
been promising himself to do something wonderful next session 
or next year, but never able to summon resolution to do what is 
required of him now ? Indolence will sing the same siren song, 
and he will graduate from life as he graduated from college, 
firmly resolved to astonish the world some day or other. Has 
he lulled himself with the opinion that college honors are not 
worth contending for so hard and so long? When he learns that 
the honors of the world are to be attained with more laborious 
efforts and more ardent competition, against a greater number of 
rivals, in a more protracted contest, they too will seem not worth 
the pains, and, sluggishly waiting for the world to do something 
for him, while he is doing nothing for the world or himself, he 
will live in sterile obscurity, and die so. Has he relied on genius 
and not on industry, ashamed to be caught at his lessons lest he 
should lose the reputation of " a smart fellow ?'' He will find the 
beaten track to usefulness and honor too common-place and 
vulgar for a man of his parts; and having wasted his life in 
seeking a royal road will go down to his grave without finding 
it, and men will forget he was a genius. Has he maintained his 
course steadily, patiently, firmly; discouraged by no obstacles, 
shrinking from no labor, evading no duty ? For him the future 
is teeming with rewards; and the united hands of genius and 
industry shall gather in the harvest. 

Not only will the intellectual habits formed in college develop 
themselves in subsequent life, but the moral habits there ac- 
quired will in most cases continue the same in kind, and grow 
more potent in their influence. If the student has not been able 
to resist the little temptations that assafl him in the seclusion and 



12 

quietude of college, will he find himself strong enough to with- 
stand the more powerful temptations of the noisy and seductive 
world, where the means of gratification are more abundant, and 
detection less certain, and retribution less imminent? If he has 
been restrained by fear and not by moral principle, will he not 
give loose rein to passion and appetite when that motive is re- 
moved? If only desire for the approbation of others has kept 
him from vice, will he not fall when he is thrown among those 
with whom vice is popular and virtue derided? It requires no 
exalted virtue to do right when there are few inducements to do 
wrong. But to do right when our present interests and pros- 
pects will suffer by it, to hold the straight path of integrity in a 
corrupt age and in defiance of example — this is the exponent of 
a principle within, too deep to be moved, too firm to be shaken. 
Now he who cherishes such a principle during his collegiate 
life, will, with rare exceptions, find it sufficiently matured and 
strengthened to guide him safely through the world. As weights 
suspended to a magnet add to its attractive force and render it 
capable of sustaining more, so temptations successfully resisted 
increase our power to overcome them. 

No error then is more dangerous than to suppose our conduct 
in college and the habits we form there will have a very feeble 
influence on our future lives. Instances of a vicious student 
becoming a good man, or an indolent student a useful man, are 
so rare, they do n )t disturb the general rule. Indeed there is no 
act in a student's career that does not enter as an element in the 
formation Ot his future character, and does not produce a de- 
cided though perhaps an indeterminate effect upon his destiny. 

The life of a man is divided into two parts by a constantly 
and uniformly moving point which we call the present. To 
you, young gentlemen, the future is pregnant with more intense 
interest than the past. In the order of nature it will be the 
larger portion of your lives, and in its bearing on others the 
more important portion. Hope points you now to the pathway 
of success, and gilds your horizon with rainbow hues. You are 
no longer to con the roll and rehearse your parts behind the 
scenes, but to step forward upon the open stage of hfe's theatre, 
to meet the gaze and stand the scrutiny of the crowded benches. 
No wonder, with palpitating hearts you await their decision 



13 

upon your merits — the plaudit, or the hiss. You all expect suc- 
cess. If you take the right direction you all may attain it. 
There is a race in which all who run may win the prize. It is 
the race of goodness. There is another in which few can win, 
and the garland withers on their brow. It is the race of selfish- 
ness. 

Do you desire fame? She is capricious. 

" Whom she praised to-day, 
Vexing his ear with acclamations loud 
And roaring round him with a thousand tongues 
To-morrow blamed and hissed him out of sight." 

Such always has been and always will be the fate of him " who 
loves the praise of men more than the praise of God." It is 
indeed gratifying to hear the approbation of our fellow men; 
but much more to feel the approbation of our own consciences. 
When, therefore, we cannot secure both, it will conduce to our 
happiness to obey the "still small voice" within, rather than the 
clamor from without. 

Do you desire power? You are girding yourselves for a 
doubtful and hazardous conflict. Unforeseen difficulties await 
you. Ponder well before you make up your minds to the issue. 
The world that now seems to smile as you come forward to 
salute it, will soon prove itself cold, and selfish, and treacherous. 
Your coadjutors will be men engaged each in his own schemes 
of self-aggrandizement. A thousand rivals, unscrupulous of 
means, will jostle you on your way. If you fall, malignity will 
trample you under foot, and the laugh of satire mingled with 
the howl of hate will be your requiem. If you outstrip your 
competitors, envy will pursue you with her spiteful gall, and 
calumny assail you with her poisonous breath. There is nothing 
to which the world seems so averse as to a man's rising above 
the condition in which he was born. Strong sinews must that 
man have, who can force his way upward, while all below are 
holding him back, and all above are pressing him down. Strong 
swimmer must he be, who can make headway against a rapid 
current with a mill-stone about his neck. Yet such is the con- 
dition of the man who strives to rise above his fellows; and 



14 

where one buffets with vigorous arms the baffling tide, and 
comes safely and triumphantly to land, ten 

" Sink into the depths with bubbling groan." 

Truly has it been said of the honored slave of ambition, 

" He that ascends the mountain tops shall find 
The loftiest peaks most wrapped in clouds and snow; 

He that surpasses, or subdues mankind, 
Must look down on the hate of those below. 
Though high above the sum of glory glow, 

And far beneath the earth and ocean spread, 
Round him are icy rocks, and loudly blow 

Contending tempests on his naked head. 
And thus reward the toils which to those summits led." 

Far different is the career of that man whose governing prin- 
ciple is the love of goodness. He seeks opportunities for emi- 
nent usefulness from the impulses of a benevolent heart. He 
toils to increase the sum of human happiness from sympathy for 
his species. He strives to make the world better for his having 
lived in it, because he loves virtue for its own sake. Would that 
more such men were found in every profession and every de- 
partment of society. How the few such that have lived in the 
world stand out, self-luminous, amidst the darkness of the past, 
surrounded by the wreck of names remembered only for their 
crimes, and pointing to the admiring gaze of men the true path 
to glory's temple ! In their destiny mark the wisdom of the di- 
vine government. The moral polity of the world is such that 
goodness cannot fail to receive its reward. It may suffer priva- 
tions and afflictions, but it " shall receive manifold more in this 
present time, and in the world to come life everlasting." He 
alone then who lives for the benefit of his fellow men and the 
glory of his Maker, lives truly for himself. 

Here, gentlemen, is a kind of success to which you may con- 
scientiously and honorably aspire. And I seem to hear each 
one of you in the enthusiasm of youthful hearts breathe the firm 
resolve, this path shall be my path; these rewards, my rewards. 

If then you have determined to labor for the good of mankmd, 



i " 



15 

it becomes a question of interest by what means you may do so 
most effectually. 

It has been justly observed by an excellent writer, that, " he 
who aims at the meridian sun will shoot higher than he who 
aims at a horizontal mark." The sculptor conceives a beau ideal, 
a form of perfect beauty, far surpassing the specimens which 
nature presents for his study, and transcending even the power 
of his art to equal. Is not his work more perfect than it would 
have been without such standard? Just so in every human 
labor. He who contents himself with small things will never 
be great; but he who aspires to great things, though he fall short 
of his object, will seldom fail to be respectable. On whatever 
career of life you enter, therefore, fix your eyes on the highest 
point of possible excellence. 

Having set a high standard for yourselves, persevere in your 
efforts to approach it. Probably more persons fail for want of 
continued exertions, than for want of high resolves. They make 
a few efforts with apparent zeal, but, meeting no immediate 
reward or discouraged by unforeseen difficulties, give over the 
struggle and sink down in listless inaction or gloomy misanthropy. 
The racer might as well think to win the prize without the 
breath and bottom to reach the goal. Men might with equal 
reason complain that the pure wine does not sparkle in the cup 
without the care of the vintage and the labor of the wine-press. 
The great Roman orator devoted twenty years to constant appli- 
cation before he commenced his public career; and afterwards, 
amidst the harassing anxieties of political life, found time, besides 
delivering an incredible number of orations, to write valuable 
and learned works on a great variety of subjects. Do you 
inquire how he accomplished all this? Let him answer for him- 
self in the oration for Archias the poet. "Who then can justly 
censure me, if, as much time as is given to other men for their 
own business; for the celebration of festival days and other plea- 
sures; for repose of body and mind; for gaming, ball, and nightly 
entertainments; so much I appropriate to myself, and devote to 
these studies." Now the reason why so few attain similar emi- 
nence is that so few make similar efforts. What Cicero became, 
he made himself; and whatever degree of usefulness or reputation 
you attain, must be the fruit of patient, resolute toil. You live 



16 

in an age of unparalleled activity and enterprise in every depart- 
ment of human exertion. Mankind will hold you to a strict 
account, and will pay only a fair equivalent for what they receive. 
No sinecures are bestowed to fatten the indolent; no garlands 
are woven for the brow of the sleeper. The laurel flourishes in 
living green on the summit of an arduous steep, and he that 
would pluck a perennial wreath, must toil up the rugged ac- 
clivity. 

Again, if you would exert on society the full measure of 
influence to which your talents and education entitle you, you 
must not only possess the fortiter in re, but also cultivate the 
suaviter in modo. Literary and scientific men have been charged, 
and not always unjustly, with neglecting those refinements of 
social intercourse which have been properly denominated the 
^^ minor morals.'^ Absorbed in more elevated studies, they are 
too apt to despise those arts of pleasing which are necessary to 
render them acceptable in polite and refined circles. The con- 
sequence is, they find themselves superseded in the good graces 
of such circles by men in all other respects their inferiors. They 
accuse society of frivolity and folly, for preferring what they 
consider the starched and perfumed simpleton to men of know- 
ledge and genius. Society on the other hand charges them with 
dullness, because, unskilled to talk trifles prettily, they insist on 
making an oration whenever they open their lips. Both parties 
act unwisely. Having the power mutually to benefit, they stand 
apart and caricature each other. Each persists in cherishing its 
own defects, when, by cordial intercourse, the frivolity of the one 
and the clumsiness of the other might be essentially diminished. 

The unlettered man of the world may pass in society for 
more than he is worth, just as a copper coin, plated with gold 
and stamped as an eagle, would pass among the multitude. The 
unpolished man of learning, like a guinea washed with copper, 
passes for no more than a farthing. The former has concealed 
his base metal, but he cannot stand the test of taking his specific 
gravity. The latter has only to rub off his copper, and fearing 
no test, he will be taken at his value, and be current enough to 
keep bright. Now if all literary men would brush themselves 
up in this way, two ends would be gained. The pure gold would 
occupy its legitimate place in the circulating medium, and society 



17 

by frequently contrasting weight and levity, would learn to dis- 
tinguish the true from the counterfeit and cease to be imposed on. 

Another important feature in the character of the man who aims 
at extensive usefulness, is self-control. A self-government whose 
empire should extend over the whole man, subjugating his 
passions, regulating his appetites, restraining his desires and 
purifying his affections, would be the perfection of the human 
condition. Every just statute enacted by human authority, is 
the expression, by a formula of language more or less precise and 
significant, of some law of nature, the enimciation of some rule 
of reason, which, but for ignorance, selfishness, or unrestrained 
desires, every man would have discovered without its enunciation, 
would have obeyed without compulsion. We may expect, there- 
fore, that, in the progress of morals and civilization, as men ap- 
proximate that perfection which perhaps they may never fully 
attain, they will need to be governed less and less by force and 
fear. The unwritten law of truth and reason, the immutable 
principles of right and justice, will gradually assume the au- 
thority, and take the place of statutory enactments. The code 
inscribed on the heart of every man by the finger of Omni- 
science, will be substituted more and more for codes, often preg- 
nant with injustice and oppression, and written in tears and 
blood, on stone, and brass, and parchment. 

There is a great first law which pervades every department 
of the dominion of Omnipotence ; obeyed as well by the invisi- 
ble and impalpable elements of inorganic bodies, as in the curi- 
ous structure of animals and vegetables ; as obvious and as po- 
tent in the domains of intellect and morals, as in the wonderful 
machinery of the heavens. It is the law of perfect order and 
imiversal harmony. Infinite as the Intelligence that established 
it, and boundless as his works, it can never be fully compre- 
hended by finite minds. It is a study whose rudiments may be 
learned on earth, but whose depths and extent will furnish exer- 
cise for the constantly expanding powers of the soul in eternity. 
Whatever is beautiful in nature, admirable in art, perfect in in- 
tellect, or right in morals, derives its character from conformity 
to it. It is the standard of all truth, justice, virtue and goodness; 
and in its violations all evil consists. It is that law "whose 
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throne is the bosom of Grod, and whose voice is the harmony of 
the universe." By self-government I mean a course of conduct 
in voluntary accordance with this law. 

In striving to regulate our actions by the great rule of order, 
we must be directed, so far as our physical nature is concerned, 
by a knowledge of our relations to the material world; and so 
far as our intellectual nature is concerned, by the light of reason. 
But in all that regards our moral nature, we must be directed by 
an enlightened conscience and the Word of God. It is fortunate 
that the branch of this law, on which society has most at stake, 
is best understood. Violations of physical and intellectual laws 
affect chiefly the transgressor himself. But violations of the law 
of morals introduce disorder into society ; and however speedy 
or severe the punishment of the guilty, the innocent suffer also. 
Here, therefore, as the well-being of society requires, our bene- 
ficent Creator has given us all the light we need. If we err, we 
do so willingly, and have no excuse. We destroy, with our 
own, the happiness of others. Men cease to repose confidence 
in us, and justly ; for he is unfit to direct others, who is incom- 
petent to govern himself. Imitate, then, young gentlemen, the 
example of the great apostle, who said, " I keep my body under, 
and bring it into subjection." Admire the poet of truth and 
nature, who exclaimed, 

" Give me that man 
That is not passion's slave, and 1 will wear him 
In my heart's core, aye, in my heart of heart." 

Believe the wise man who declared, " He that is slow to anger 
is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit, than he 
that taketh a city." 

I will detain you on this part of the discourse, to notice but 
one more element in the character of the man who seeks to be 
eminently useful and greatly good. It is Christian piety. Indeed 
I should hazard little in saying, without this you cannot even 
enter upon that elevated career which I have supposed the object 
of your choice. Certain it is, however exalted the stations to 
which you may attain, you will never exert on your fellow men 
the most favorable influence of which you are capable, unless your 



souls are imbued with the pure principles of Christianity, and 
your conduct is a living testimony in their favor. 

Your object is to benefit mankind. To do this you must make 
them wiser and better; and to make them wiser and better, you 
must instruct them in the true and the good. But the fountain 
of all truth and goodness is God. If you reject Christianity, you 
can instruct men only by philosophy; and all true philosophy is 
but an exposition of that universal law of order which God 
established. God then is the great central light towards which 
all philosophy looks and gravitates. Annihilate this light, and she 
wanders darkling from her orbit, and chases an ignis fatuus. 
Examine the past, and tell me if unaided philosophy has ever 
reformed mankind. Socrates and his disciples failed to stop the 
progress of moral degeneracy at Athens; the precepts of Aris- 
totle did not save his royal pupil from the corrupting influences 
of flattery and power, nor prevent him from falling into the most 
infamous excesses; the sublime instructions of Cicero fell power- 
less upon an age in which depravity ran riot amidst her polluted 
orgies, scoffing at ancient virtue, "and in the lowest depth" 
sought to plunge into a still " lower deep." 

The ancient teachers of wisdom failed for want of a proper 
sanction to their doctrines. Their systems of morals contained 
no principle of vitality by which they could move and act. They 
were like the man of clay, formed by the skill of the Titan, before 
it was animated with the fire from heaven. We must therefore 
have recourse to an element of which the Grecian and Roman 
teachers were destitute. Reason and Philosophy may teach men 
to know their duties ; Christianity alone can induce them to per- 
form their duties. This is the fulcrum of our moral lever, with- 
out which it is impossible to move the world. The precepts of 
the Bible, coming to us with an authority and power from heaven, 
stamped with the signet of the Almighty, and sanctioned by the 
retributions of eternity, to these we must cling as the last hope 
of our race. The star that rose over Bethlehem, hailed by voices 
of the celestial choir heard along Judea's hills, proclaiming 
« peace on earth, good will to men," be that star your guide in 
the wilderness of life. 

I cannot close this address, young gentlemen, in which my 
only aim is to be plain and practical, without reminding you of 



20 

the duties you owe to your country. The character of a nation 
governed as ours is, must depend on the aggregate character of 
the individuals that compose it. And who are to act so vital a 
part in the formation and development of that character as our 
educated men? " Those who think'^ will not only " govern those 
who toil/' but will also govern that other, and self-styled higher 
portion of the community who neither think nor toil. As educated 
men, therefore, in a nation from which the world has so much to 
hope and so much to fear as from ours, you stand under the 
pressure of no ordinary responsibility. Into your hands, in com- 
mon with the rest of the educated class, the destinies of the 
republic are committed. On you in no small degree will it 
depend, whether the character of our country shall be moulded 
by the models which antiquity has left us, whose elements were 
love of glory, wealth and power, Avhich brought pride, luxury 
and ruin in their train, or whether it shall assume a nobler form. 
If we follow in the footsteps of the ancient republics Ave may 
not hope to escape their doom; a doom, which, whenever it 
comes, will be our own work; a doom, which no necessary law of 
nature has fastened upon any nation. A state may, if it will, 
flourish in immortal youth. It has within itself the power to 
renew its age, with no aid from Colchian drugs or Medea's art. 
It cannot decay but by the loss of its physical, intellectual or 
moral powers ; the loss of none of these powers is necessary, but 
as a consequence of vice ; and vice is not necessary, but voluntary. 
The ruling principle of the old republics was selfishness, and 
imder its various manifestations it embodied itself in all their 
measures and policy, and gave impulse to all their enterprizes. 
There was indeed a potency in the words, " I am a Roman 
citizen," which Cicero asserts was a protection among the most 
remote and barbarous people. But what was the idea, which, 
thus expressed, caused the scourge to drop, and the dagger to be 
stayed, as if the uplifted arm had been paralyzed? It was this, 
" my country will avenge me." Fear of the Roman power and 
Roman vengeance, therefore, and not love for the Roman, secured 
him from insult and violence. I would that the words, " I am 
an American citizen," might be fraught with a nobler import, and 
invested with a power more exalted in its nature. I would that 
their meaning might be, « my country has the power and the will 



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21 

to do you good:" that wherever on the wide earth a countryman 
of ours should plant his feet, he might be greeted with a blessing 
and not a curse. 

Do you inquire how you may contribute your share towards 
the formation of a national character thus truly majestic and 
glorious ? I can answer the inquiry no better than by holding 
up for your imitation a man, whose entire life was a perfect 
pattern for an American citizen; a man, who has done more 
than any other to illustrate and exalt the American name ; a man, 
whom no views of private interest or selfish ambition ever 
allured from the path of straight-forward, steadfast integrity; a 
man, who carried before him a presence that secured at once and 
involuntarily not only the respect but the love, not only the con- 
fidence but the reverence of mankind. The father of his country 
possessed that rare combination of character which they will 
most admire who longest contemplate ; those qualities of mind 
and heart which grow and swell in our estimation with our 
increasing ability to appreciate them. 

" Where can the weary eye repose 

When gazing on the great, 
Where neither guilty glory glows, 

Nor despicable state? 
Yes, one — the first, the last, the best — 
The Cincinnatus of the West, 

Whom envy dared not hate. 
Bequeathed the name of Washington 
To make men blush there was but one.'* 

Gentlemen, let my parting injunction to you be, study and 
imitate this man. You may not hope to become great as 
Washington, but you may all aspire to be great like Washington. 
You cannot study him without being made better. You cannot 
imitate him, however humble your sphere of action, without 
making your country better, and yourselves truly good and great. 
His was 

" A combination and a form indeed. 
Where every God did seem to set his seal 
To give the world assurance of a man." 






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